Curriculum reform implementation at the classroom level: Impacts and challenges

Curriculum change and implementation in Hong Kong before 1997 were rather piecemeal, and the outcome “was a reliance on symbolic policies” which demonstrated a scenario of “the government introducing a policy intention but not taking action to ensure its implementation” (Morris and Adamson, 2010, p.183). Since 1997, the Hong Kong government has adopted a diff erent approach towards the large-scale curriculum reform which is intended to bring about short-term and long-term impacts to schooling in Hong Kong. The reform has been supported by various levels of government implementation strategies and eventually brought signifi - cant impacts to local school contexts, especially on teachers and classroom teaching (Chan, Kennedy and Fok, 2008). This chapter aims to address the issues of curriculum implementation in Hong Kong, in particular how teachers perceive curriculum changes, their responsive actions in light of the reform and the impact that have on classrooms. Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis.